Jacques Villeneuve names “the worst” Max Verstappen teammate - and it's a shock

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has branded Yuki Tsunoda “the worst” of Max Verstappen’s F1 teammates to date.

Tsunoda has struggled since being promoted alongside Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old has scored points just three times since joining Red Bull.

Tsunoda’s best finish in the RB21 was ninth in Bahrain.

Tsunoda’s F1 future beyond this season looks uncertain, even though he has shown flashes of improvement in recent races.

Speaking to Vision4sport, Villeneuve was critical of Tsunoda.

“Tsunoda is probably the worst of them all so far,” he said. “A lot of people say it’s unfair, that the car is made for Max. But Max might be the only one who actually gives good feedback to the team. So yes, they develop the car, so it gets better and better for him.

“They’re not there trying to make it difficult for the number two driver. The thing is, there’s not many like Max. If you look in the past, there were more than one at his level in the paddock. And then you had a few good drivers. And then a few average as well.

“Now there are a lot of good drivers instead of only a few. You don’t really have exceptional drivers anymore. So, Max really stands out. So, it’s hard to put someone next to him. Because if all the drivers that fight each other are barely good, they’ll all look great amongst each other.

“That’s until you get someone like Max and you think, ‘Okay, maybe they’re all not good enough!’ So, is it the fact that all the drivers that have been paired with Max so far have all been average drivers?”

Tsunoda simply “not good enough”

Villeneuve believes it’s now time to put a known quantity alongside Verstappen.

Tsunoda and several of his predecessors, like Liam Lawson, haven’t been anywhere near Verstappen’s level.

Villeneuve wants to see Charles Leclerc or Fernando Alonso alongside Verstappen in the future.

“It would be good to see a Leclerc next to Max to see how good he really is. Or it’d be good to put Alonso now next to Max, because that’s a known quantity,” he explained. “It’d be good to put Norris next to Max, so we would really see if Norris is exceptional or is he just very good?

“That would help to quantify things. We know that Max is exceptional but then the drivers next to him have just not been good enough and there’s no point saying,  ‘Oh poor them.’ No, they’re just not good enough. That’s it. They’re barely good.

“And that’s what has happened with Tsunoda. He’s had four or five years of experience already. He’s had his best andclearly, it’s not good enough. That’s it. So, he’s been given this chance and too bad. And he was wanting that chance, he was screaming for it.

“He was put in and he didn’t cut it. It’s that simple and you can’t feel bad for him. He has been given the chance to be in the top team, and he didn’t cut it. He was promoted to the big league and you can see the frustration. And it’s making him drive even worse because he knows he’s not quick enough right now.”